ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Today I’m going to teach you all the words
we use in English for clothing. Welcome to this vocabulary builder video.
We’re going to go over lots of articles of clothing so you can increase your English
vocabulary. We’ll also talk about the pronunciation of the words so you can feel confident using
them in conversation. The first word is: Button down First of all, I’m wearing a button down. This
is what we call a shirt like this with buttons down the front and a collar. Sometimes it
has a pocket. Wow, I chose a hard first word! Most Americans
will pronounce ‘button’ with a stop T. This is because of the sound pattern T-schwa-N.
Most Americans make that a Stop T. But, n, button. Put your tongue up to the T, but, stop
the air, and then make the N sound. Button. Button down. I have a video that goes over the T-schwa-N
combination and the word ‘mountain’. Click here or in the description below. Button. Button down. Try this with me. Button.
Button down. First of all, I’m wearing a button down. This
is what we call a shirt like this with buttons down the front and a collar. Sometimes it
has a pocket. This can also be called a dress shirt. Dress shirt. Okay, what’s interesting here is that you
can say the ‘S’ dress shirt. Or you can drop it, connect the two words and just say the
SH: dresh-shirt. Dresh-shirt. You can definitely do that and it will still sound normal. Dresh-shirt.
Try that with me. Dresh-shirt. This is also a ittle tricky because it has two R’s, and
those can be a challenge. If they’re hard for you, practice holding out the R: drrrrrrrrrrrress
shirrrrrrrt. shirrrrrrrt. Notice in the second word there is no vowel, it’s the R vowel,
sh—rrrr—t. Shirt. Shirt. Dress shirt. Dress shirt. Say that with me now out loud:
dress shirt. This can also be called ‘dress shirt’ First of all, let’s start with the first layer.
Now I’m not gonna show you my underwear coz’ that would just be weird. But we have underwear.. Underwear. Another tricky one with two R’s
in it. Again, hold out the R’s to practice: underrrrrr wear. Make sure you have jaw drop
for that EH vowel before the second R consonant. Weaaaaaar. Weaaaaaar. Underwear. Underwear. Say it with me: underwear. But we have underwear. Another term for this:
panties, some people hate that term Panties. Oh boy. This word. I don’t actually
use it, I use ‘underwear’. Something to note about the pronunciation: It’s not uncommon
to drop the T after an N sound. So you can either pronounce this word with a True T,
panties. Or with no T at all. ‘pannies’. Say those with me: panties, ‘pannies’. Another term for this: panties, some people
hate that term. Undergarments, that’s not as common.. Undergarments. You may see this word on a
sign, like, “Keep your undergarments on while trying on swimwear”, but we really
don’t say it. We don’t use it very much. It’s tough to pronounce, so let’s just not
worry about it. Undergarments, that’s not as common. Women
wear a bra. The full word is brassiere but almost no one says that. bra, brassiere. We usually use the word ‘bra’, with the
AH vowel. Bra. But in the word, brassiere, we don’t have the AH vowel. It’s the schwa
in the first syllable, bra-, bra-. Brassiere. Bra. Say those with me. Brassiere, bra. Women wear a bra. The full word is brassiere
but almost no one says that. And then men can wear boxers.. Boxers. Did you know that there’s no X sound
in American English? The letter X is either the KS sounds together, like in EXTRA, KS
or the GZ sounds together, like in EXACTLY. GZ. In boxers, it’s the KS sounds. Boxers. Boxers. Say that with me. Boxers. And then men can wear boxers or briefs. Briefs. We have two vowel letters here, but
they’re just making one vowel sound, the E vowel. Briefs. If R gives you problems in
a cluster, remember to hold it out: brrrrrriefs. Briefs. Try it with me, briefs. Briefs. Socks. socks. Letter O here making the AH as in FATHER
vowel. So-. Lots of jaw drop. Socks. Say it out loud: socks. Socks. You can have just little athletic socks
for running, you can have dress socks to wear with your suit or more dressy outfit. You
can have boot socks or knee high socks that you should wear with a boot that came up your
leg Dress socks, boot socks, knee-high socks.
Notice how the S at the end of dress leads you right into the S of socks, with no break.
Dress socks. Dress socks. And no, you don’t have to try to make it an extra long S, just
one S sound. Try that with me, dress socks. Boot socks, the T here is a Stop T because
the next word begins with a consonant. Boot—stop the air—boot—socks. Boot socks. Try that
now. Boot socks. Knee-high socks. We have three words here,
but they should all flow together. We don’t want separation. Knee-high socks. It’s like
one word with three syllables. Knee-high socks. Knee-high socks. Notice the K is silent. Knee-high socks.Try that with me.
Knee-high socks. you can have dress socks to wear with your
suit or more dressy outfit. You can have boot socks or knee high socks that you would wear
with a boot that came up your leg. This is an undershirt and it’s a common thing
for men to wear an under a dress shirt undershirt. It’s the ‘under’ part from
‘underwear’ and the ‘shirt’ part from ‘dress shirt’! Remember, the R is the
vowel in ‘shirt’: sh—rr—t. Shirt. Undershirt. Say that with me, undershirt. This is an undershirt and it’s a common thing
for men to wear an under a dress shirt. Your basic T-shirt. T-shirt. Once you’ve got ‘shirt’ down,
this one’s pretty easy. T-shirt. Say that with me. T-shirt. Your basic T-shirt. Long sleeve T–shirt of course has long sleeves. long-sleeved T-shirt. You don’t have to
pronounce the D in ‘long-sleeved’. It comes between two other consonants, and sometimes
we drop T’s and D’s when that happens. Long-sleeved t-shirt. Long-sleeved T-shirt.
Say that with me. Long-sleeved T-shirt. Long sleeve T–shirt of course has long sleeves. You know what I realized I forgot? The neck
line with a T-shirt. When it’s shaped like this, we call it a V-neck T-shirt. V-neck.
Say that with me. V-neck. This is a tank top. Tank top. We don’t fully pronounce the K
here. Kk. We just do a quick stop of air like we do with the Stop T. Tank top. Tank top.
Tank top. And that vowel in tank: It’s the A vowel followed by an NG sound. That NG sound really
changes the vowel. Its ends up sounding much more like the AY diphthong, tay-, tank. Tank
top. Try that with me. Tank top. This is a tank top. Then you could also have a shirt that didn’t
have any straps. It is just tight here and came down. That would be called a strapless
shirt. Strapless. It has the word ‘less’ in it,
but we don’t pronounce it like that. We pronounce it ‘liss’. Quickly. It’s unstressed.
Strapless. Say it out loud with me: strapless. If it’s strapless and it’s tight all the
way down, then we call it a tube top. Tube top. Don’t release the B, just close the
lips, tub–top, then open right into the T sound. Tube top. Try that with me, tube top. This is a nice old comfy sweatshirt. So it’s
made out of this thick material, really cozy. This one has a hood. They don’t have to. Sweatshirt. You don’t need to fully pronounce
either one of those T’s. You can make them both Stops. Sweat shirt. Sweat shirt. abrupt stops
give us the idea that it’s a T. sweatshirt. Say that with me. Sweatshirt. This is a nice old comfy sweatshirt. So it’s
made out of this thick material, really cozy. This one has a hood. They don’t have to. And
this is not quite the same thing as a hoodie. A hoodie has a hood and then it zips up the
front. So this is David’s big ol’ hoodie. hoodie. Careful the double O here is not the
OO vowel, like in proof, oo, it’s the UH vowel like in ‘book’. UH. UH not OO. Hoo-,
Hoo- hoodie. Hoodie. Say that with me. Hoodie. A hoodie has a hood and then it zips up the
front. So this is David’s big ol’ hoodie. This would be a sleeveless shirt. So it’s
not a tank top but it doesn’t have sleeves. sleeveless shirt. Just like ‘strapless’,
the second syllable is unstressed, “liss”, and should be said quickly. Sleeveless. Say
it with me. Sleeveless. This would be a sleeveless shirt. So it’s
not a tank top but it doesn’t have sleeves. Dress. Dress. The thing that’s interesting about
the DR cluster is that it can sound like JR, and that’s right. So it can be DD, dress,
or JJ, dress. If you’re not sure about your R, hold it out. Drrrrrress. Dress, dress.
I’m making it with a J sound, I think that’s more common. Dress. Say it with me. Dress. Dress. This is a jumper. I think there are a couple
of different terms for it but basically it’s one piece. It’s not separate top and bottom
but it’s also not a dress. It’s like pants or shorts. Jumper or one-piece. I’ve also seen this called
a ‘romper’. The trick with –er ending sounds is to make an R sound but make it really
quickly since it’s an unstressed syllable. Jumper, -er, -er. Jumper. Romper er, -er.
Romper. Try those with me. Jumper. Romper. This is a jumper. I think there are a couple
of different terms for it but basically it’s one piece. It’s not separate top and bottom
but it’s also not a dress. It’s like pants or shorts. One piece. Right from the N to the P with
no break, we don’t want this to be choppy. Onnnnnnepiece. One–piece. Try that with
me. one-piece. but basically it’s one piece. This is a sweater. Sweater. we have a Flap T here because the
T comes between two vowels. So it’s not sweater, with a True T, but sweater, D D D,
flap, with a Flap T. Try that with me. Sweater. This is a sweater. And this is also a sweater but you would probably
call it a wrap. It’s one of these things which you put on and it doesn’t close up in the
front but you kinda wrap it like that Wrap. The W in the WR cluster is silent. Just
begin with an R sound. Wrap. wrap. Say it out loud with me. Wrap. And this is also a sweater but you would probably
call it a wrap. It’s one of these things which you put on and it doesn’t close up in the
front but you kinda wrap it like that Jeans. Jeans. Do you love them as much as I do? Jeans,
with the EE vowel, jee, jeans. Hear the plural is a Z sound, but it’s light, it’s
weak. Don’t give it much energy. Jeans. Jeans. Now these jeans are a little different. They
are maternity. So maternity refers to anything that is specially made for pregnant women.
These are leftover from my Stoney days. Maternity. First T is a True T, second T is
a Flap T. Why? They both come between vowels. Yes, but a T is always a True T if it starts
a stressed syllable. Maternity, maternity. Say that with me. Maternity. Now these jeans are a little different. They
are maternity. So maternity refers to anything that is specially made for pregnant women.
These are leftover from my Stoney days. Sweatpants. Sweatpants. Just like ‘sweatshirt’, the
T in ‘sweat’ is a Stop T because the next sound is a consonant. Sweat-pants. Sweatpants.
Say that with me. Sweatpants. Sweatpants. Shorts. So these could be called running shorts, athletic
shorts, soccer shorts. Whatever you use them for. Workout clothes.. Shorts. All kinds of shorts. The vowel in
‘shorts’ is the AW as in LAW vowel. But when this vowel is followed by R, it’s pretty
different. The lips round more and the tongue pulls back a little more. O, OR instead of
AW, oooor. O, OR. Shooooorts, shorts. Shorts. Say it with me. Shorts. I also said “workout clothes”. The word
‘clothes’ has a voiced TH, clothes. But you know what? Drop it! Americans almost always
drop the TH in this word, clothes. So now it sounds just like this word, close. Yes.
They will sound the same. That’s okay. Say it with me. Clothes. So these could be called running shorts, athletic
shorts, soccer shorts. Whatever you use them for. Workout clothes.. Pants. You can also call them dress pants.. Pants. dress pants. We have the AA vowel followed
by the N consonant. All nasal consonants change the A vowel. Rather than A it’s aa-e, aa-e.
The tongue relaxes in the back before the N. Paaa, paaa, pants. Pants. Pants. Try
that with me. Pants. Pants. You can also call them dress pants.
These are khakis.. Khakis. The H is silent. Kaa-kis. Say it with
me. Khakis. These are khakis These are swim trunks for men You could also
call them just a swim suit. Swim trunks. The TR cluster can be pronounced
CHR. That’s common. So you can say t, trunks, or you can say ch, chruncks. Swim trunks.
Swim. Note this is the IH vowel, swim, not the EE vowel sweem. Ih, ih. More relaxed.
Swim trunks. Say that with me, swim trunks. Swim suit. If an ending T like this is at
the end of your thought group, it sounds nice to make that a Stop T. Swim suit. Swim suit.
Try that with me. Swim suit. You could also say bathing suit. This word is tricky because
it has a TH sound. This TH sound is voiced and just the very tip of your tongue comes
through the teeth. Bathing suit. Bathing suit. Try that with me. Bathing suit. These are swim trunks for men. You could also
call it just a swimsuit. For women we have one-piece. This is a one-piece suit. It’s
strapless one-piece and strapless. We already went over
these. One-piece, when we were talking about jumper and strapless, when we were talking
about shirts. And then you can also have bikini. That’s two-piece. You will never catch me
in one of these in one of my videos. Bikini, 2-piece. In bikini, we have three
letter I’s, but the first one is a schwa: Buh Bikini. Say that with me, bikini. Two-piece.
Two with the T consonant and the U vowel. Let your lips be more relaxed and then round
into the position U. Twoo. The movement of the rounding N is a very nice relaxed sound
rather than tu-tu where your lips are tight in the position the whole time. Relaxed then
round. Two. Two-piece. And then you can also have bikini. That’s
two-piece. You will never catch me in one of these in one of my videos. When I’m at the beach, I also like to wear
one of these. It’s called a rash guard and it’s a shirt made out of bathing suit material
that can protect you from the sun. Rash guard. Remember to hold out the R’s
if they’re tricky for you. Rrrrrrrrash guarrrrrrrrrrrd. ‘Guard’ is like ‘car’ or ‘far’:
you need to drop the jaw for the vowel, and leave the tongue tip forward, then pull it
back and up for the R. Gaah-r. Guard. Say it out loud: rash guard. When I’m at the beach, I also like to wear
one of these. It’s called a rash guard and it’s a shirt made out of bathing suit material
that can protect you from the sun. This is a suit. So it’s a jacket or suit coat
and pants. suit / pants / jacket / suit coat. Suit. If
the next word begins with a consonant, remember this ending T will be a Stop T: suit pants,
suit jacket, suit coat. Say those out loud with me. suit pants, suit jacket, suit coat. If you’re confused about the difference between
a stop T and just leaving the T out, I’ve made a video for you. There is a difference.
Please check it out. Either click here or on in the description below. I forgot to show one of David’s ties. This
is a tie. True T, AI diphthong. Tie. Tie. Say that with me. Tie. This is a suit. So it’s a jacket or suit coat
and pants. Now there’s also something called a blazer and it’s cut like a suit jacket but
it’s a little bit more casual and it’s not part of a set. Both men and women can wear
suits or blazers and women suits can come with pants or skirts. Blazer. The letter A makes the AY diphthong.
Diphthong means two positions: jaw drop, then tongue arching toward the roof of the mouth.
AY, ay. Bla-, blazer. Say that out loud with me: blazer. Now there’s also something called a blazer
and it’s cut like a suit jacket but it’s a little bit more casual and it’s not part of
a set. And when women are getting more dressy, sometimes
they wear hose or panty hose. Hose or panty hose. ‘Panty’, when said
with ‘hose’, pretty much always has a dropped T. Panty hose. ‘Hose’ has the
OH diphthong. Two positions: jaw drop, then lip rounding. Oh, oh, hose. Say
that with me. Hose. Panty hose. And when women are getting more dressy, sometimes
they wear hose or panty hose. Now we’ll use some of Stoney’s clothes. These
are overalls. Believe it or not, I don’t own any overalls so I have to use Stoney’s as
an example of what are overalls. Overalls. Two tricky sounds: the OH diphthong.
Make sure you have jaw drop and lip rounding. Oh, Overalls. And the Dark L at the end. Alls.
Not ‘all’, ‘alls’ with the tongue tip moving up. Actually, the tongue tip should
stay down the whole time. Over uhl, uhl uhl. It’s the back of the tongue that presses down
and back a little bit to make that dark sound. Overalls. uhls uhls. Say it with me.
Overalls. These are overalls. Believe it or not, I don’t
own any overalls so I have to use Stoney’s as an example of what are overalls. A onesie is a piece of baby’s clothing where
it snaps at the bottom. So you unsnap it to change the diaper quickly but it’s attached
there to keep the shirt from riding up. Because if you’ve ever spent any time with a
baby. You know if they’re in just a shirt. It ends up around their neck or armpits. So
this is a onesie. Onesie: Spelled with an S, but pronounced
with a Z sound. Onesie. Onesie. Say that with me. Onesie. So this is a onesie. Stoney has the cutest little pair of jean
shorts. jean shorts. So here, rather than saying ‘jeans
shorts’, you drop the S in ‘jeans’. It’s just ‘jean shorts’. Say that with
me. Jean shorts. Stoney has the cutest little pair of jean
shorts. Stoney has a pair of jeans that came with
suspenders. So these things that you can put on pants to help them stay up are called suspenders. Suspenders. A three-syllable word with stress
on the middle syllable. Make the first and third syllables as short as you can: sus-,
-ders. Suspenders. Suspenders. Try that with me. Suspenders. Stoney has a pair of jeans that came with
suspenders. So these things that you can put on pants to help them stay up are called suspenders. So Stoney has a vest. Vest can be 2 different
things. First of all, they can be like this, something that’s casual that’s meant as another
layer to add warmth. But, you can also have a dressy one that would be part of a dress
outfit for men and if it came with a pants and a jacket as a set then those 3 things
would be called a 3 piece suit. So a 3 piece suitus a suit that includes a vest. Vest. Some language groups mix up V and W.
This letter should definitely be pronounced with a V. Bottom lip to top teeth. Vvv. No
lip rounding, ww. That’s a W sound. Vvvvv. Vest. Say that with me. Vest. that would be part of a dress outfit for men
and if it came with a pants and a jacket as a set then those 3 things would be called
a 3-piece suit. So a 3-piece suit a suit that includes a vest. 3-piece suit. Three. Ok, this word is tricky.
You have an unvoiced TH, and the tongue tip must come through the teeth, th, thr, hr then
the R where your tip comes back and up a little bit thrr hrr. Thrr three. Three-piece. Three-piece
suit. Try that with me. Three-piece suit. So a 3-piece suit a suit that includes a vest. Let’s talk outerwear. Outerwear. We have a Flap T here because the
T comes between two vowels. When I say vowels in these rules, I mean vowels or diphthongs.
Because the beginning sound is the OW diphthong. Ow Outerwear. Wear. Tricky sound combination.
Jaw drop for EH before your R. Wear. weh-r, wear Outerwear. Outerwear. Say that that with
me. Outerwear. Let’s talk outerwear. This is a down coat. It’s a heavy, really
warm winter coat. down coat. I’ve noticed something that several
different language groups to this combination OW + N. They drop the N and make the OW dipthong
sound nasaly. It sort of sounds like this. Down. There is no nasal quality to this diphthong.
Let’s break it up. Dow-nn. Dow-nn. Dow-nn. Down. Down. Down. Try that with me. Down.
‘Coat’ with the OH diphthong: jaw drop then lip rounding. Down coat. Down coat.Try
that with me. Down coat. This is a down coat. It’s a heavy, really
warm winter coat. This jacket is a little more lightweight so
you’ll probably wear it in the fall or spring But you could still just call it a jacket. Lightweight jacket. Notice all three of these
T’s can be Stop T’s: they’re either followed by a consonant, or at the end of
a though group. Light-weight-jacket. Lightweight jacket. Try that with me. Lightweight jacket. This jacket is a little more lightweight so
you’ll probably wear it in the fall or spring . But you could still just call it a jacket. This is something a little bit different,
a little bit strange, a little old—fashioned. I got this from my sister-in-law. So this
doesn’t really have arms. It’s just a poncho. Poncho. We have two different pronunciations
for the letter O here. The first one is the AH as in FATHER vowel. Po-, pon-. The second
is the OH diphthong. Oh cho. Poncho. Try that with me. Poncho. I got this from my sister-in-law. So this
doesn’t really have arms. It’s just a poncho. Fur coat. Fur coat. Fur can be tricky because it has
the R vowel in it. Don’t drop your jaw or try to make some sort of vowel sound before the R.
It’s just two sounds, f and r. Fur, fur Fur coat. Try that with me. Fur coat. Fur coat. That’s a lot of clothes. Did I forget anything?
Put it in the comments below and if there’s another vocabulary set of words that you would
like me to do a video on, also please put it on the comments below. That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.

I have to say it! I really love your videos. The best English pronunciation tutorials I have found over the whole internet. Really talented. You have helped me so much by just seeing your videos. Really appreciate it your hard work and dedication on helping us out! Be blessed! ~ Rocio

Hi, Rachel. Just want you to know that I can't thank you enough for helping me with my English vocabulary and pronunciation.I've been watching your videos recently and all of them are great. Wish you my best.

Another excellent video, but one comment – as far as I know, your first word should be "botton-up" instead of "button-down":)Here you can see the diffence explained: http://hespokestyle.com/mens-style-advice/difference-between-button-down-button-up-shirts/